composers. We weren’t supposed to bring ourselves to the music,”
she said.
Now, she has taken that model and turned it sideways.
Simmons has been named classical music’s Number One
Maverick by repeatedly defying expectations and delivering rivet-ing
performances and innovating at every turn.
Simmons is one of the most versatile concert artists on the
scene today. However, she doesn’t simply play the piano to impress
audiences: she uses the piano as an instrument for providing inspi-ration,
information and entertainment in order to profoundly
move people.
Listed as one of Ebony magazine’s “Top 30 Leaders under 30,”
Simmons’ impressive musical background and diverse cultural
experiences have made her a pioneer and source of inspiration for
her legions of fans.
In her truly unique keynotes, Simmons offers her inspiring
messages alongside her world-renowned piano performances. Her
expertise has been called upon by an array of organizations look-ing
to create a culture of excellence and foster meaningful change.
A gifted speaker, her presentations give powerful insights into
how creating a unique leadership brand can inspire the creation of
ideas that will have a lasting impact on the world. With bound-less
energy and intellect, Jade Simmons teaches audiences not only
how to lead, but how to start achieving beyond what they ever
thought possible.
Attend Jade Simmons’ keynote address at HRPA’s Annual
Conference and Trade Show, Jan.30 at 4:30 p.m.
BILL BURNETT
KEYNOTE ADDRESS – DESIGN YOUR
LIFE – DESIGN THINKING
“Design thinking is an innovation methodology – it works on
products, works on services. But I think the most interesting
design problem is your life.”
It isn’t terribly surprising that Bill Burnett approaches prob-lems
– no matter what kind – through the lens of design thinking.
After years of drawing cars and airplanes under his grandmoth-er’s
sewing machine, Burnett went off to university and discovered,
much to his surprise, that there were people in the world who did
this kind of thing every day (without the sewing machine) and
they were called designers.
AC 2019
Thirty years, five companies and a couple thousand students
later, Bill is still drawing and building things, teaching others how
to do the same and quietly enjoying the fact that no one has dis-covered
that he is having too much fun.
“We’ve been taught in university to be skeptical realists, ratio-nalists
– but that’s not very useful as a mindset when you’re trying
to do something new, something no one’s done before. So, we say
you start with curiosity and you lean in to what you’re curious
about,” said Burnett.
“You reframe problems because most of the time we find people
are working on the wrong problems. They have a wonderful solu-tion
to (the wrong problem).”
The co-author of Designing Your Life alongside Dave Evans,
Burnett currently serves as the executive director of the Design
Program at Stanford. He directs the undergraduate and grad-uate
program in design at Stanford, both interdepartmental
programs between the Mechanical Engineering department and
the Art department.
He earned his BS and MS in product design at Stanford and
has worked professionally on a wide variety of projects ranging
from award-winning Apple PowerBooks to the original Hasbro
Star Wars action figures. He holds a number of mechanical and
design patents, and design awards for a variety of products includ-ing
the first “slate” computer. In addition to his duties at Stanford,
he is a on the Board of VOZ (pronounced VAWS – it means
“voice” in Spanish), a socially responsible high fashion start-up
and advises several internet start-up companies.
Attend Bill Burnett and co-presenter Dave Evans’ keynote address
at HRPA’s Annual Conference and Trade Show, Jan. 31 at 8:30
a.m., sponsored by Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in
the Workplace.
DAVE EVANS
KEYNOTE ADDRESS – DESIGN YOUR
LIFE – DESIGN THINKING
Ten years ago, Dave Evans and partner Bill Burnett founded the
Stanford Life Design Lab.
“We teach designing your life, designing your Stanford, design-ing
the professional – we teach everybody. We teach about 15-20
per cent of all the students at Stanford,” he said.
“Now, these are smart people. What do they need to take this
class for?”
HRPROFESSIONALNOW.CA ❚ CONFERENCE ISSUE 2019 ❚ 69
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